If Dustin Poirier fights Charles Oliveira for the vacant UFC lightweight title, Joe Rogan thinks Conor McGregor could return to the cage against Michael Chandler.
Chandler impressed on his octagon debut with an impressive knockout from Dan Hooker in UFC 257 main co-event, while McGregor lost by technical knockout in the second round to Poirier in the main event.
While McGregor entered the fight for Poirier as a favorite, Rogan believes that ‘The Notorious’ would be the underdog against Chandler, who is a three-time former Bellator lightweight champion.
“The purist option is Charles Oliveira,” Rogan told Brendan Schaub in a recent episode of JRE when asked about Poirier’s next opponent (h / t JMA Holland of MMA Mania). “If you are a purist, you want that fight.”
“If you want to make a shitty money before Conor fights someone else, you have the rematch (of Poirier),” added Rogan. “Here’s the deal, if Conor fights Michael Chandler, which is a possibility, if Dustin fights Charles Oliveira and Conor fights Michael Chandler, what are the chances of Conor beating Michael Chandler? I think Michael Chandler is the favorite in this fight, which is very dangerous for his money. “
McGregor acknowledged Chandler’s first round knockout victory over Hooker at the UFC 257 post-fight press conference, but the Irishman is reportedly ‘harassing everyone’ over a trilogy fight with Poirier, according to SBG Ireland coach John Kavanagh.
McGregor 2-2 in his last four fights and, before UFC 257, had never been knocked out. The former double division champion is currently in 6th place in the UFC lightweight division.